Grade the Trade: Thunder bring back point guard, add center in fascinating proposal

Laying out the Trade

The Toronto Raptors have finally listened to the music and moved off of their veteran stars. OG Anunoby is now with the New York Knicks and keying one of the league's best defenses, while Pascal Siakam is on the Indiana Pacers.

While the Raptors look ready to build their future around Scottie Barnes and Immanuel Quickley, they still have a number of veteran players still on the roster. They could elect to hang onto them and stay decent enough to fight for a spot in the Play-In Tournament, or they could continue the teardown and move on from everyone unlikely to be a part of the young core.

ESPN pounced on that idea in creating a trade proposal that also involved the Oklahoma City Thunder. The Raptors would sell a couple of veterans for draft picks and some interesting players, and the Thunder would add heft at center and a veteran point guard to give them depth behind Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.

Here is what the trade looks like:

The Raptors get a pair of first-round picks and a pair of second-round picks, further filling out their coffers. That's valuable, especially since they still owe a protected first to the San Antonio Spurs from the last Jakob Poeltl trade.

Davis Bertans is purely an expiring contract; Aleksej Pokusevski likely is too, but it's possible the Raptors give him a shot heading down the stretch of the season. Tre Mann and Aaron Wiggins can develop as potential long-term rotation players.

This deal makes some sense for Toronto if they are ready to move on from Poeltl. What about the Thunder; would they make this trade?